Gift of The Goddess
by Criala
Summary: Angeal's sister comes to live with him.
1. Arrival

This is the first chapter for my Genesis Rhapsodos story.  
This is set a short time before Crisis Core.  
I hope you all enjoy it.  
Let me know what you think.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. FFVII and Crisis Core belong to Square Enix. Only Tali and the story plot belong to me. **

* * *

"Now arriving in Midgar, Sector 8." The conductor announced as the train slowed until it stopped completely.

"Finally..." The voice of a female murmured under her breath.

The female stood from her seat and began grabbing her luggage. One duffle bag and two suitcases.

She had straight, dark brown, almost black, hair that fell down just below her waist. Her eyes were hazel and had flicks of green and blue in them.

She scanned the almost empty train before she picked up her suit cases. The duffle bag was settled on her shoulder. She wore a black pleated skirt with black thigh highs and a quarter sleeve, v-neck red shirt. On her feet were black flats.

xXx

Within a few moments, she was sitting on the edge of the fountain in Loveless Avenue. Her suitcase and bags were placed beside her on the ground. Her brother had told her to meet him there when she got off of the train.

Curled up in her lap was a small, white kitten. She'd found the kitten on the platform, and didn't have the heart to just leave the poor thing there. So, she took her with her.

People walking by glanced at her. A couple of them even stopped in their tracks to watch her for a couple of seconds. But, she didn't even seem to notice them. She was too busy looking for her brother.

"He said he'd be here..." She muttered, placing one hand on her hip and using the other to scratch the kitten's head.

Thirty minutes went by, and he still wasn't there. She could feel herself starting to get impatient. Just how long did it take someone to get to Loveless Avenue? From what he said when she last talked to him on the phone, his apartment was close by. And the Shinra building, which was where he worked, was but maybe thirty feet in front of her. Either way, he should have already been there.

"That's it. I'm calling him." She decided, pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket and looking through her contacts until she found his number. Then she pressed TALK and put her phone up to her ear, waiting for him to answer.

Five rings later, someone finally answered his phone.

"Hello?" An over excited male voice asked.

She blinked. That wasn't her brother's voice. That wasn't even close to it. "Who are you?"

"Zack Fair at your service!" He exclaimed.

A blank expression over came her face. "Right. Can I speak to Angeal please?"

"Sure." He happily replied. Then she could hear his voice faintly, obviously talking to Angeal. "Angeal, you got a girl calling for you! You lucky dog. Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?"

She had to chuckle to herself at that.

"Because I don't have one, Zack. Why were you answering my phone anyway? Hello?" A different, slightly deeper, irritated voice said.

"Angeal... Where are you?" She asked. Her tone was blank.

"Tali?" He asked slowly, as if he wasn't sure that it was her.

"Yes... You were supposed to pick me up." She replied.

There was a pause on his end. Tali resisted the urge to shake her head. Realization was probably just now dawning on him.

"I was, wasn't I? Sorry, I was training with Zack."

"It's alright..." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Where are you now?"

"Shinra."

Her head tilted to the side absently to look at the Shinra building, as she blinked in confusion. "Would they even let me in there?" She wondered, though it was more to herself than to him.

Silence came from the other end of the phone.

"Angeal?" She asked, blinking.

More silence.

Her eye twitched a little. "Angeal?!"

A muttered 'Ow' was heard, before Angeal's voice came through again. "Sorry."

"Where'd you go?" She asked, placing her free hand on her hip, even though Angeal couldn't see it.

"I was getting permission for you to be allowed in here on the SOLDIER floor. I can't leave just yet." Angeal explained to her.

"So, I'll have to go to you..." She mused, stroking her chin. "Alright, I'll see you in a bit. Bye."

"Alright."

With that, Tali hung her phone up, sliding it back into her pocket. Her gaze fell on the small white fuzz ball that was curled up on her lap. She carefully picked the kitten up and placed her on her shoulder. The kitten stretched a little, and easily sat there.

Taking one of her suitcases in each hand, she stood up. It was easy to carry the suitcases. They weren't very big. There were only clothes, plus a pair or two of shoes, in them, so they didn't weigh very much.

She looked up at the Shinra building as she walked toward it. It would be easy enough to get into the building. Now, when she got onto the SOLDIER floor... That was a different story. The ride on the elevator went fine. But, when she stepped out of it and onto the SOLDIER floor, a man dressed in purple had caught sight of her and made his way over to her.

"What are you doing here, Miss?" He asked. "Non-Shinra employees aren't allowed here."

"I have permission to be here." She responded, looking at him.

"How would you have permission to be here? You're a common girl." The man looked her over while wrinkling his nose; giving the impression that he was being snobby.

A blank expression came to her face. "Excuse me?"

"What's going on here?" A voice came from behind the man.

Both Tali and the man turned to look where the voice had come from.

Behind him stood Angeal.

"First Class Hewley! I was just telling this... Girl." He practically sneered when looking at her. "That she wasn't allowed here. She claims to have permission to be here."

Angeal eyed the man for a moment, raising his eyebrow. "That's because she does have permission to be here."

She smirked at the man. "Tali Hewley, at your service." She mock bowed to him.

He froze, just staring at her, making the connection with their last names almost immediately. "M-Miss Hewley... I-I'm sorry."

Angeal's arms crossed over his chest, a disapproving look on his face. "I'll talk to you about this later."

"Yes sir!" He nodded quickly and hurriedly scurried off somewhere else.

Tali grinned at her brother, placing her suitcases by a nearby wall, and then walked over to him. "Angeal!"

He was going to say something, but a voice cut him off. The voice of Zack Fair.

"I thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend, Angeal!"

The both of them turned to look at him, Angeal with an exasperated look on his face and Tali with curiosity.

A man with chin length, slightly layered auburn hair and blue mako eyes walked up right as Zack had spoken. He had on a long, red leather jacket that was open in the front with two black criss cross straps keeping it on his body, along with a black shirt beneath it. Adorning his legs were black pants that tucked into his black boots.

He wore an amused look on his face, resting the index finger and thumb of his right hand on his chin, with his left arm holding up his right elbow. There was a very, very light pink book held in his left hand. "You think she's his girlfriend?"

"Who else would she be, Genesis?" Zack asked, looking to Genesis with a confused look on his face.

Angeal reached up his hand and began to massage his temples, sighing. This was going to be one long day... He was already starting to get a headache.

Tali merely shook her head, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"His sister." Genesis replied simply with a smirk.

"Sister?" Zack blinked.

"You never told him about her, Angeal?" Genesis glanced over to Angeal.

"Never crossed my mind..." Angeal muttered.

"Wait! How come you know about her and I don't?!" Zack practically whined, pouting a little.

Tali gave Angeal a look that said 'Is He Seriously Asking Such An Obvious Question'.

Angeal nodded his head lightly, sighing under his breath.

"You really have to ask that?" Genesis retorted. His eyes were not on Zack, but on the page of the book he was reading.

"Yes..." Zack tilted his head to the side. "Or I wouldn't have asked."

"Is it really that hard to piece together?" Genesis asked, his eyes lifting from the page to look at Zack.

"Piece what together?" Zack asked in return, blinking in confusion.

Genesis pursued his lips and spared a glance at Angeal. "I'm going to have to piece it together slowly for him, aren't I?"

"Apparently so." Angeal replied, rubbing his temple again with two of his fingers.

Genesis sighed and rubbed his own temple, before looking to Zack again. "Alright... Angeal and I grew up together, right?"

"Yeah." Zack nodded his head.

"And she's his sister, right?"

Once again, Zack nodded.

"What does that tell you?" Genesis asked him.

"Um..." Zack chewed on his lip as he thought. "That..."

Maybe he finally understood and would put two and two together.

"They're related?" He asked, sounding and looking confused.

Genesis, Angeal and Tali all nearly face planted into the ground right there. How could he still didn't get it?

"I think... You're just going to have to tell him flat out..." Tali's eye twitched a little. How hard was that to understand?

Genesis exhaled slowly. Was Zack really that dense? Apparently so. "Angeal and I grew up together. Tali is his sister. Which means..."

"Which means?" Zack repeated in the form of a question.

"Which means her and I grew up together as well." Genesis finished. He really hoped that Zack understood that time, because if he didn't, he had no idea how else to explain this to him.

"Oh!" Zack exclaimed, smacking the fist of one of his hands into the palm of his other.

"Yes, oh." Genesis muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"That's how you know about her!" Zack grinned triumphantly, placing his hands on his hips, turning to Tali.

"Finally he understands..." Tali murmured under her breath, before smiling at him.

"There's a cat on your shoulder!" Zack gasped, pointing at the kitten.

"You just now noticed?" Tali asked, quirking an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, though he was quickly distracted when the kitten stretched and mewed. "Aw, she's cute!"

Tali stifled a laugh at his reaction to her. "She is."

"Where did the cat come from?" Angeal asked.

"I found her... On the train platform." Tali told him with shifty eyes.

"Tali..." Angeal sighed.

"I couldn't just leave her there!" Tali pouted, scratching the kitten's head. "Can I keep her, Angeal?"

"I don't know..." Angeal trailed off.

"Please!" Tali pouted even more, adding in the puppy dog eyes.

"Aw, let her keep her!" Zack started in, pouting as well.

"Pleaseeeee!" The two of them pleaded in unison.

Genesis chuckled at the sight before him, the two of them pleading and pouting at Angeal.

Angeal sighed. There was that headache of his again. "Alright, alright. You can keep her."

"Yay!" Tali giggled, throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. "Thanks, Angeal!"

"Yeah, yeah." Angeal muttered, patting her back lightly.

Tali grinned and let go of him, locking hands with Zack and bouncing around excitedly. Sure, Zack was pretty dense and had been slightly annoying. But he was amusing and he wasn't all THAT bad. She could see the two of them becoming good friends.

"What's going on here?" A slightly amused male voice asked.

Two of them turned to see who the voice came from. It wasn't Tali and Zack, because they were still bouncing in circles. They hadn't even noticed that someone had spoken. They were too caught up in their jumping.

It had come from a man with extremely long silver hair. He had the same color mako eyes that Zack, Genesis and Angeal had. He was wearing a black leather jacket that, much like Genesis's, had criss cross straps on the front, only he didn't have a shirt on under it so some of his chest showed. He wore black pants that tucked into his black leather boots.

"Hey Sephiroth..." Genesis was back to reading his book, chuckling and shaking his head at the jumping duo.

Sephiroth nodded to him, and arched an eyebrow at Tali and Zack, though it was more Tali because he'd never seen her before. His gaze shifted to Angeal. "Who is she?"

Angeal rubbed his forehead. "My sister. She's come here to live with me."

"Ah." Sephiroth nodded. "Why are they jumping like that?"

"I told her she could keep the cat." Angeal replied. Maybe it was a mistake to tell her she could keep it. She and Zack could be jumping around for hours. He already had enough of a headache as it was. But, he had a feeling that if he'd told her no, he'd only get more of one. She'd just keep asking and asking him if she could keep it until he gave in.

Sephiroth glanced back over at Tali and Zack, now noticing the poor white kitten that was holding onto Tali's shoulder for dear life. "That cat."

Angeal nodded his head. "That cat."

"Poor cat." Genesis chuckled. He was amused by it.

"Tali?" Angeal called her name.

The two of them finally stopped jumping around.

"Yessums?" Tali looked over at him, giggling. She had noticed Sephiroth, but other than that, she didn't pay attention to him.

"This is Sephiroth. Sephiroth, Tali." Angeal introduced, nodding to the man to his left.

"Hi." Tali smiled, waving with one hand and holding out the other one for him to shake. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard about you from Angeal in letters he writes."

Sephiroth chuckled slightly, shaking her hand once before letting it go. "Have you now?"

"Don't worry, it was all good!" Tali told him with a grin.

Sephiroth merely chuckled in response.

"Oh... Tali." Angeal said as if he had just remembered something, looking at her.

"Hmm?" Tali glanced at him.

"We should be going." Angeal told her.

"Oh, okay." Tali smiled and skipped over to Genesis. "Nice seeing you again, Genesis!" She threw her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

Genesis chuckled and placed his arms around her shoulders briefly, patting her back lightly. "You too, Tali."

Tali smiled once again and headed over to where she had placed her suitcases, picking one of them up.

"Can I go too?" Zack asked excitedly.

"Sure!" Tali grinned.

"Great!" Zack grinned as well, doing a couple squats before dashing over and picking up her other suitcase.

"Good luck with those two, Angeal." Genesis laughed as he headed down the hall.

"Good luck indeed." Sephiroth smirked, nodding his head, not that far behind Genesis.

Angeal groaned. Yes... This was going to be a long day indeed.


	2. Moving In

Here's chapter two!  
Angeal is going to have so much fun, eh?  
I'm sure he doesn't think so though!  
Zack can be such a headache sometimes. x3  
Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. FFVII and Crisis Core belong to Square Enix. Only Tali and the story plot belong to me.**

* * *

"Wow! So this is where you live, Angeal!" Zack exclaimed, setting down the suitcase that he had carried.

Angeal sighed. "Yes… This is where I live…" Now Zack could show up at anytime he saw fit… Oh joy. He could feel even more, and worse, headaches to come. Zack showing up for the most ridiculous reasons in the middle of the night…

"You didn't know, Zack?" Tali asked. She tilted her head to the side, which caused Sakura to mew in annoyance, since Tali's hair flopped onto her.

"No." Zack pouted.

Tali glanced at Angeal, stifling a giggle. She knew why her brother hadn't shown Zack where he lived. He didn't want him tormenting him during all hours of the day or night when they weren't at Shinra. "Oh, I see."

Angeal gave her a look, telling her not to say anything about it to him.

Tali bit her lip, having to try even harder to keep herself from bursting out in a fit of giggles.

Zack tilted his head to the side in a confused manner. "What's going on?"

Tali giggled and gently petted Zack's head, having to stand on her tiptoes to do so. "Oh, it's nothing. Nothing for you to be concerned about, Zacky."

"Oh, okay." Zack gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah…" She glanced at Angeal. "So, do you want to help me unpack?"

"Sure!" He grinned, immediately picking the suitcase he'd been carrying back up. "Which way?"

Tali thought for a moment, and then looked over at Angeal when she realized that she didn't know. "Which room?"

Angeal nodded his head towards a hallway. "Second one on the left."

Tali nodded and practically bounced off down the hall with Zack skipping right behind her.

Angeal sighed as he watched the two of them head down the hall. A long day it would be indeed.

"Where should I put this?" Zack asked, looking at Tali and holding up the suitcase he had in his hand.

"Just set them down wherever." She shrugged, setting the suitcase she had down on the bed.

Sakura jumped down from Tali's shoulder and sniffed at the bed for a couple of minutes. Then once she was satisfied with sniffing it, she laid down and curled up on it.

"Where do we start?" Zack asked, setting down the suitcase and opening it.

"Hmm…" She thought for moment as she pulled the duffle back from her shoulder, setting it on the bed next to the suitcase. "Just start pulling stuff out. Clothes will go in the dresser obviously, and other stuff we'll figure out as we go along."

"Okay!" Zack grinned and began pulling clothes out of the suitcase. When he would pull out one article of clothing, he would rush over to the dresser to put it inside. Then he would run back to the suitcase, only to pull out another one and repeat the whole process.

Tali couldn't keep herself from laughing under her breath and shaking her head at him. He was such a funny character. A little hyperactive, and she wasn't sure that he knew how to keep still for more than a couple of seconds at a time, but that was a good thing. He would be a good person to go to if she needed to be cheered up or needed her mood lifted. She smiled and went to pulling her things out the duffle bag and the other suitcase.

It didn't take them very long at all to have all of her stuff put away. She hadn't had much to begin with. It took maybe an hour at the most.

"Wow, that was quick!" Zack grinned, hands on his waist as he looked around the room, admiring their work.

"What are you looking at, Zack?" She asked, laughing.

"Our work!" He answered, turning his head to look at her.

"But… You can't see it." She tilted her head.

"Yes, you can!" Zack exclaimed, pointing at the top of the dresser where there were maybe two or three books that hadn't been there before. "You can see those books! And they weren't there before we got here!"

Tali had to bite her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. Zack was such a goof sometimes. It was extremely amusing. "Yes, yes I can, Zack." She managed to get out without bursting into a fit of laughter.

Zack grinned. "I'm going to go tell Angeal and have him look!" He rushed out of the room excitedly to go get Angeal.

She could imagine the look on Angeal's face now. She looked at Sakura and chuckled, cooing at the kitten and scratching her behind the ear. "Angeal is going to have such a headache by the time Zack leaves. Yes, he is."

It was only a couple minutes before Zack was back in the room, tugging Angeal in. "Come on, Angeal! You gotta see!"

A sigh escaped Angeal's lips as he let Zack drag him into the room. It was easier to just let Zack drag him around than to try to keep him from doing it. "What is it you want me to see, Zack?"

"Our work!" Zack grinned and motioned around the room at "all" of the work they had done.

Angeal raised an eyebrow and took a look around the room. "It looks the same."

Zack pouted, just like he had before to Tali. "You really can't see anything different?"

Angel sighed again and looked around the room a second time. "No, Zack, I don't."

Zack let out a whine and pointed at the books on Tali's dresser. "You can totally see those books!"

Angeal's gaze trailed to where Zack was pointing. Those books? Seriously? That's what Zack was so excited about? Well… This is Zack we're talking about here. He would get excited over the simplest of things.

"Oh... I'm sorry… I hadn't noticed them…" Angeal trailed off. Oh, was that his head throbbing again?

The grin was right back on Zack's face. "That's okay, Angeal! What do you think? Didn't we do a good job?" He asked.

Angeal spared his sister a glance, who shrugged at him, then looked back at Zack. "Yes… You did a great job, Zack."

Zack beamed. "Thanks, Angeal!" He looked around the bare room. "It could use some paint or something though to liven it up. It's too… Bare and plain."

Tali glanced around and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, it could." She mused, stroking her chin in thought.

"Well, I guess we're going paint shopping." Angeal shrugged his shoulders.

Tali smiled and nodded. "Yes!"

"Alright… We'll go paint shopping tomorrow…" Angeal sighed a bit.

"Yay!" Tali squealed, bouncing a bit. She already had ideas running through her head on how she wanted to paint her room. "Thank you so much, Angeal!"

"Can I come too?" Zack asked, looking from Tali to Angeal with excitement evident on his face. "I can help paint!"

"Sure!" Tali grinned, nodding her head in approval. "The more, the merrier! Right, Angeal?" She turned to her brother, smiling at him. "And he offered to help with the painting!"

Angeal resisted the urge to twitch. That little… She'd done that on purpose. He just knew she had. "Right..."

"That'll make it all the more fun and it'll go so much quicker!" Tali grinned, bouncing again, clasping her hands together.

Zack being there would make something go quicker alright. Angeal's sanity, whatever was left of it that is.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Zack grinned, clapping his hands together giddily.

Tali nodded her agreement, smiling. "Yes!" A yawn escaped her lips. "Oh wow… I'm tired." She murmured.

"Aw, you should rest! You just got here, right?" Zack asked, looking at her.

She nodded her head. "Yeah." She rubbed at her left eye. "I think I will… I feel so tired now." She stretched, sighing as she heard her spine and shoulders cracking.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Zack smiled at her, patting her shoulder and walking by Angeal. "Bye, Angeal! I'll see you tomorrow too!" He called as he headed for the front door.

Tali giggled and then turned to look at Angeal.

"Did you have to invite him?" Angeal asked, throwing an exasperated look her way.

"Of course! It'll be more fun with him there." She told him, skipping over to her dresser and pulling out some clothes for her to sleep in. "And it will make the painting go faster."

"I'm going to lose my sanity…" He muttered to himself, walking out of the room. "I just know it…"

"As if you had any to begin with!" She called out to him with a laugh, tugging her clothes off and pulling her sleeping clothes on. She then crawled into the bed, curling up under the covers and closing her eyes to go to sleep. They would have to pick out a new bed spread too. This one was… Alright. But she didn't like it that much. It wasn't really her style.

Sakura stretched as she stood up, walking over and curling up against Tali.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep, dreaming about all of the things she could do to her new room. All the different colors and different kind of bedspreads. She would have so many ideas and plans for the room by the she got up.

xXx

Tali woke up pretty early the next morning. Not long after she woke up, there was a knock on the door. She blinked, having just gotten dressed, wearing black skinny jeans and the red v-neck shirt from the day before. Sakura was still curled up on the bed, sleeping. Tali smiled and gently pet the kitten's ear before leaving her room.

"Who could that be this early?" She murmured to herself, making her way down the hall and to the front door. Her fingers grasped the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open.

There in the doorway stood Zack.

"Hey!" He waved at her with a bright grin on his face.

"Zack… What are you doing here so early?" She asked, stepping aside to let him in.

Zack stepped inside, the grin still on his face. "We're supposed to go shopping for paint, right?"

"Yeah… But I thought that was later." She said, closing the door behind him.

"It's not that early!" Zack defended.

"It's barely nine in the morning…" She pointed out.

"That's not that early." He repeated, waving his hand dismissively in the air, going further inside.

"I don't even know if Angeal is awake yet." She told him as she rubbed her eyes. She wasn't even fully awake yet.

"He probably is. I mean, it's Angeal! I don't see Angeal sleeping in in the morning." Zack stated, holding up his index finger in the air.

Tali thought about it for a moment and nodded her head in agreement. She didn't see her brother sleeping in either. But then again, she had actually lived with him. She knew he wasn't the kind of person that usually slept in. "This is true…"

"You're already here, Zack?" Angeal's voice came from behind them. There was a tired tone to his voice.

Tali and Zack turned to look at him. He was already dressed, his sword on his back, and appeared to have been up at least a longer than Tali had been.

"Of course I am, Angeal! We're going to go shopping for paint today!" Zack exclaimed, obviously very excited.

Angeal glanced pass Zack to his sister with a look that said 'You Let Him In This Early?' on his face.

Tali gave him a shrug in return. Why wouldn't she let him in? He hadn't told her to not let him, so why wouldn't she?

Zack was just standing there, smiling, as oblivious as ever. "So, when are we going?" He bounced a little in place.

Angeal sighed. "I guess… We can go now…" He said, running a hand through his hair. "If Tali wants to…" He hoped that his sister didn't want to, but he knew that she would. He knew how excited she was about painting the room.

"Of course I want to!" She said, smiling at her brother.

"Great!" Zack grinned, doing a couple of squats to burn off some of all the energy he had. Though it probably wouldn't burn off much of his energy. His energy seemed to be endless sometimes.

"Well… We should get going then." Angeal muttered. He didn't mind going shopping much, especially with his sister. But… Shopping… With Zack as well? Of all people the people to be going shopping with them. Something was bound to go wrong or someone was bound to lose their sanity.

"Just let me get my shoes!" Tali said, rushing down to her room to grab her shoes. It only took her a couple of minutes to pull her shoes on. She looked at Sakura who was still asleep. "Cute little thing…" She pet one of Sakura's ears, smiling. She picked her up gently and held her as she got up, hurrying back to Angeal and Zack. "I'm ready!"

"Alright, then let's go." Angeal nodded his head, heading for the door. He opened it and stepped out, waiting outside for the two of them.

Zack let Tali go out first, then went outside himself.

Angeal closed and locked the door, turning around to see Tali with a sleepy Sakura on her shoulder. "You're really bringing the cat along?"

"Of course!" Tali frowned, pausing for a moment to pet Sakura's head. "Why wouldn't I?" Sakura nuzzled her head against her hand, purring. "I can't just leave her home alone! Something could happen to her!" She finished.

"Okay, okay." Angeal sighed, putting his hands up in surrender. "Let's just go."

"Okay!" Tali smiled, continuing to pet the kitten's head, walking beside her brother as he led the way to the store. Zack walked on her other side, petting Sakura every now and then.


	3. Shopping

Chapter three!  
Hope you all enjoy it!  
Let me know what you think of it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. FFVII and Crisis Core belong to Sqaure Enix. Only Tali and the story plot belong to me.**

* * *

"Wow, there are so many colors!" Tali gasped in awe, looking at all of the different colors and shades of paint in the paint section of the store. It was a rather large section, and took a good portion of that wall of the store. "I didn't know there were so many different shades for one color."

"Me neither. It's so cool." Zack nodded, agreeing with her. He looked at all of the different colors. It was fun to look at them, because there were just so many.

There were dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of different shades and different colors to choose from. Tali had no idea where to begin looking. She had an idea of what color she wanted, but seeing all the different ones there made her want to look at all of them. Most of them were pretty, except for orange, yellow, green and pink. Those colors weren't on the top of the list of colors that she liked.

"So, where would you like to start?" Angeal asked, looking down at her.

"I don't have a clue! There are just so many choices." Tali replied, looking at him then back at the paint cans. "I'll start…" She looked around. "Over…" She paused, looking around again and going off in a random direction. "Here!"

Angeal shook his head at her, chuckling.

"Ohh, pretty purple." She awed, looking at a can of paint. It was a nice shade of purple. Though, she wasn't sure she would want to see that color all the time on her bedroom walls. It was nice, but not that nice.

Zack was looking at all of the different colors of blue they had. "Hey! This one matches my eyes!" He grinned, pointing at the color and looking over at Tali.

She looked away from the one she was looking at and over at the color he was pointing to. "Oh, it does!"

"I should get this paint and use it for something!" Zack said, nodding his head to himself. Paint that matched his eyes? He had to buy it!

"Like what though?" Tali asked with her eyebrow raised. Just what could he use that paint for?

"I don't know." He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'll figure something out!"

"Oh, Zacky. You are so silly." Tali shook her head at him and continued in looking at the paint in front of her, glancing back and forth between a couple different cans.

Angeal shook his head at the both of them. Zack wasn't the only silly one. They were both silly.

Tali stepped sideways down the aisle, not even paying attention to where she was going. She was done comparing those two shades of purple. There was really no difference between the two, so she was moving on to the next color. She was preoccupied with the paint cans and color strips in front of her until she felt herself collide with something hard. But it wasn't a wall. Walls weren't warm.

"What the…" She muttered, looking up to see what she'd run into. "G-Genesis!"

Genesis tilted his head, raising his eyebrow as he looked down at her. "Oh, Tali."

A very faint pink tinted her cheeks. "Hey." She smiled, giving a slight wave.

"Hello." He smiled slightly in return, nodding his head to her as a greeting.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, motioning around her with her hands, before they lowered to her waist and laced together.

"I need some paint." He chuckled, a small smirk on his face.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Smartass."

He chuckled again. "Actually, I need to fix something in my apartment, so I'm looking for some wood glue."

Tali tilted her head. "What do you need to fix?" She asked, curious, wondering what he could have broken.

"The handle on the cabinet in my bathroom broke." He answered.

Her eyebrow rose. "How did you manage that?"

"I'm not quite sure." He shrugged. "I opened it and the handle fell off."

She bit her lip, but she had to laugh at that. "Really? It just fell off? Out of no where?"

"Yes…" He paused for a moment, eyeing her. "Wait, are you mocking me?" He asked. There was a blank expression on his face.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed, a pout forming. "Would I do that?"

Another blank expression made its way onto his face. "Yes, you would."

"Nuh uh." She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

He sent another look her way.

She let out a sigh and pouted again, knowing that he was right and that he'd won. "Okay, fine… I would." She muttered, sulking. "You win."

He smirked. "So, what are you here for?"

"To get paint." She replied. The pout had been replaced with a smile as she glanced at the cans on the shelf beside them. "Angeal is letting me paint my new room, so we're here to get some paint."

"Ah." He nodded his head.

She watched him for a second, and then she gasped. "You could help us!"

"Excuse me?" His eyebrow quirked.

"You can help us paint." She said, smiling and clapping her hands together once. "Come on! It'd be a big help!"

"I suppose I could…" He mused, after having thought about it for a moment. He wasn't scheduled to have any assignments or missions for a couple days, so he would have some free time. So, why not? He could help them paint.

"Yay!" She grinned, turning back to look at the paint. She still needed to pick out one for her bedroom. "I still need to pick a color though."

He merely nodded his head, silently browsing the colors with her.

Zack glanced over at Tali to see what she was doing only to find her looking at paint cans with Genesis. He blinked. When did Genesis show up? He wasn't there a few minutes ago. Oh no! Genesis could suddenly materialize out of thin air! His eyes blinked rapidly as his mind tried to figure out how Genesis would materialize out of nowhere. Maybe he should ask Angeal. Angeal was his friend, so he would know.

He wandered over to where Angeal was. "Hey, Angeal!"

Angeal withheld a sigh, turning to look at him. "Yes, Zack?"

"How does Genesis materialize out of thin air?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Angeal just stared at Zack for a moment, processing what he'd just been asked. "What?" He asked when he couldn't figure out what Zack was talking about.

"How does Genesis materialize out of thin air?" Zack repeated, pointing over at Genesis who was still looking at paint with Tali. "He wasn't there a few minutes ago! Oh wait! Is that a SOLDIER thing? Am I gonna learn that?! Cause that would be awesome!"

Angeal glanced over to where Genesis and Tali were, and then his gaze was back on Zack. "…" He could only stare at Zack for a moment. He really thought that Genesis appeared out of nowhere? He took a deep breath, rubbing his temple. Well, it didn't take long for Zack to give him a headache this morning. It was a new record. "He probably just came in when you weren't looking, Zack. I'm sure he didn't appear out of thin air."

"Oh… Okay!" Zack nodded, a bit disappointed at first. That meant he wasn't going to learn how to appear out of thin air. That would have been really cool. But, he grinned nonetheless and went back to looking at all of the blue they had. He enjoyed looking at all of the different shades for one color. It amazed him sometimes, because two shades would be just a touch different than the other.

"Oh, Zack!" Tali called out, looking at him.

He looked over at her when he heard his name called. Genesis was still over there as well, standing a couple feet to her right.

"Come here!" She waved him over.

He scuttled over to her. "What?"

"We picked out a color!" She grinned.

"Oh, what color?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"This one!" She smiled, holding up a can of paint to let him look at it.

"Ohhh." He took a look at the color strip. It was a dark red. "Nice. It's pretty."

She nodded her head excitedly. "Yes! I picked out black too for other things. Like maybe the wall trim or something."

"That sounds cool!" Zack smiled, looking around. "Where is it though? The black paint?"

"Oh, Genesis is holding it." She nodded her head to Genesis. "And he is going to help us with the painting too!" She grinned and looked at Genesis. "Right?"

Genesis let out a sigh, but nodded his head, smiling a little. "Right." Zack was going to be help paint as well… Time to say goodbye to his sanity. Though, I'm sure not he ever had any sanity to begin with.

"We'll be done quickly with the four of us doing it!" Tali exclaimed with a smile, before she headed over to Angeal to let him know she had picked out the paint she wanted. "Angeal!"

Angeal turned away from what he was looking at and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"I'm done!" She smiled. "I picked out two colors!"

Angeal nodded his head. "Alright, let's go to the cashier then."

"Okay!" She grinned, bouncing over to the cashier, even though she was holding a can of paint.

He watched his sister with a raised eyebrow, following after her.

"Genesis!" She called to him, since he had the other paint she'd picked out.

He glanced over at her.

"Come on!" She pouted, placing a hand on her hip.

He just stared at her. What was he? Her pack mule or something? He sighed mentally and made his way over, setting the paint he had on the counter. "I need to get the glue."

"Okay." She nodded, looking over her shoulder at him as she placed her can of paint on the counter as well. "Why don't you go get it really quick and then come back? Then you could just go with us from there."

"I still have to fix the handle." He pointed out.

A pout came to her face. "Well…" She thought for a moment. "Would it be a really easy job?"

Genesis shrugged his shoulders. "One would think. But you never know for sure."

"Well, you could fix it really quick, and then come over to help?" She suggested.

He thought about it for a second. "Hmm… Probably."

"Okay." She smiled. "You know where it is?"

"Yes." He nodded his head.

"So everyone but me knew where Angeal lived?" Zack whined.

"Apparently." Genesis shrugged his shoulders. "I'll see you later, Angeal, Tali… Zack." He nodded his head to them, heading off to get his wood glue.

"Okay! See you, Genny!" Tali waved to Genesis, and then turned back to pick up one of the paint cans, since Angeal had just paid for them.

Genesis sighed and twitched a little at the nickname, but didn't pause in his walking to tell her to stop. If he told her not to, she would anyways. It would make her want to even more, so there was really no point in telling her not to.

Zack grabbed the other one, smiling.

"Okay, so back to home?" Angeal asked, looking back at Tali.

She nodded her head. "Yep!" She smiled. "I want a new bedspread, but that can wait. I can just, like, dye it or something for the time being." She gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"Alright… Let's go then." He said, moving away from the cash register and heading for the entrance to the store.

Tali and Zack followed after Angeal.


	4. Painting

Here is chapter four!  
Finally getting to the painting process.  
I'm sorry it took so long to update.  
Hope you all enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. FFVII and Crisis Core belong to Sqaure Enix. Only Tali and the story plot belong to me.**

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to be enough paint, Angeal?" Tali asked, looking up at her brother as she, he and Zack walked down the side walk.

Angeal glanced at her, then at the one cans of paint she held. "Probably not for the whole room…"

"Should we just go get more now?" Tali asked, tilting her head to the side. "Would it be easer to do that?"

Angeal thought about it for a moment. It would probably be better to get more paint now, instead of running out in the middle of a wall. "Probably…" His head turned and he looked back the street at the store, scratching the back of his head. He let out a sigh. "Alright, you two wait here. I'll go back and get a couple more things of paint."

"Okay, thanks Angeal!" Tali said with a smile.

He nodded his head and headed back down the street, turning when he got to the store and walking in. It was only a couple of minutes before Angeal came back out of the store with three more cans of paint. "If we run out of paint… You're going to get it next time." He told Tali as he walked by her and Zack, shoving one of the three cans he was holding into Zack's arm.

Tali let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yes, Angeal."

"Oh, oh! Could I go too?" Zack asked with a grin, carrying his two cans of paint under his arms.

"Sure…" Angeal trailed off. Anything to get a small break from Zack. He didn't mind Zack most of the time, overall he was a good guy and he wasn't all THAT bad, but sometimes he was just too much for Angeal to handle. Okay, so maybe more than sometimes.

"Great!" Zack bounced a bit as he walked, the handles for the paint cans clanking against the lids.

It was a relatively quick walk home. Though not quiet, thanks to Zack and his skipping. The handles clanked against the paint cans the whole way home, causing Angeal to want to rip the handles off. He may or may not have started to twitch.

"Let's get to painting!" Zack exclaimed, getting ready to rush down to her bedroom.

"Uh… Zack…" Tali blinked, tilting her head at him. "We can't paint yet."

He pouted and looked over his shoulder at her. "But why not?"

"We have to move the furniture first." Angeal sighed, setting the two paint cans he held down. "We can't really paint with all of the furniture in the room."

"I guess you have a point…" Zack sulked a bit. He really wanted to get to painting.

"The sooner the furniture is moved, the sooner we can paint." Tali pointed out.

"True!" Zack soon perked up, racing down the hall with the paint cans.

She laughed, following after him. "Come on, Angeal!" She motioned for her brother to follow her.

Angeal sighed but went after his sister and Zack. When he walked in the room, Zack was quickly taking stuff off of the dresser so he could move it.

"Hold your horses, Zack." Tali laughed at him.

"But I don't have any horses." He told her with a confused look on his face.

She let out a chuckle and shook her head at him. "Oh, Zack."

"What?" He asked, blinking a bit.

"Nothing." She patted his shoulder and began helping move things from the room. Angeal sighed lightly and went to helping move things as well. They took everything off of the dresser, all of the blankets off of the bed and everything light weight before they went to moving furniture.

"Now we can get to moving furniture!" Tali said with a smile, placing her hands on her hips.

The little white kitten was perched on the bare mattress that was now Tali's bed.

"Sakura. You're going to have to move, kitty." She scolded playfully, petting the kitten's head lightly.

Sakura merely started purring, rubbing her head against Tali's hand, not bothering to move.

Tali sighed softly and smiled, shaking her head and picking up the kitten. Sakura mewed in protest, wiggling in her hands. "Sorry, sweetie but you need to move so we can move everything." She cooed to the small kitten, walking out of the room briefly to go into Angeal's room. She placed Sakura on his bed and pet her until she laid down and curled up. She smiled and headed back to her room, bouncing in. "I put her on your bed, Angeal."

"Tali…" Angeal sighed. "Why did you do that?"

"What?" She asked with a small pout on her lips, crossing her arms over her chest. "She needed somewhere to lay and she can't lay in here."

"Alright, fine." He ran his fingers through his hair and moved over to her bed. "Well, let's get the mattress off of here and then it'll be easier to get the bed out of here."

Tali nodded her head. "At least there's not much in here."

"Right." He agreed.

Suddenly, the sound of Zack grunting was heard throughout the room.

"Zack…?" Tali looked over at him, blinking at him. He was trying to move the bed with the mattress still on it. "… Is it really that hard?"

"It's heavy!" He let out a whine, giving up for the moment on moving the bed by himself.

"Well, yeah, it's a bed." She laughed at him. "What did you expect?"

"For it to be light?" He tilted his head.

"Zack, you are too much, really." She chuckled, patting his shoulder lightly.

"Too much of what?" He asked.

"Nothing, Zack." She told him, sighing. "Let's just get this moved."

"Okay!" He grinned. "Come on, Angeal!"

The three of them began moving the furniture out of her room. Luckily, there wasn't that much so they could just put the furniture in other rooms of Angeal's apartment. His apartment was a decent size. It was almost the size of two apartments. He was a First Class SOLDIER, so his paycheck had to have been really nice. It took them a couple of hours at the most to move everything and the room was soon bare. They'd even put a tarp down so they didn't get paint on the floor.

Tali looked around the room, a smile on her face, her hands perched on her hips. "We're done."

"Now we can paint!" Zack clapped his hands together.

Angeal glanced at his sister with a look, leaning in closer to her so he could speak without Zack overhearing. "Should we really let him help?"

Tali caught the look and shrugged. "Why not? There isn't any harm in it. He's really excited about it."

"I guess." He murmured. He still wasn't sure about letting Zack help, but like Tali said, there wasn't any harm in it. How could he mess up painting?

"I'll get the paint." She said, smiling and went to get the paint. She brought the cans in one by one until all of the cans were in the room.

"I have rollers, brushes and paint trays." Angeal said as he left the room for a moment, then came back a few minutes later with what they needed to paint.

"Alright, let's get started!" Zack exclaimed excitedly.

"Not just yet." Angeal spoke, glancing at him.

"What? Why?" Zack let out a drawn out whine. He just wanted to paint already. It seemed like it would be so much fun!

"We need a ladder to get higher up on the walls." Angeal responded.

"Well, where's the ladder?" He asked Angeal, looking over at him.

"In the closet down the hall." He responded.

"I'll go get it!" Zack said, racing out of the room and down the hall. He soon returned with the ladder Angeal spoke of, almost smacking Angeal with it as he rushed into the room.

"Hey, be careful with that." Angeal told him. "You're going to end up hitting someone with it."

"No, I won't!" He waved off Angeal's words, placing the ladder against the wall.

Angeal resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had a feeling that something was going to happen. He just wasn't sure what yet.

"Well, let's get started then!" Tali rubbed her hands together with a small grin. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail so it didn't get in the way. The last thing she wanted to be doing was trying to wash paint out of her hair. "I'll be right back guys." She told them. "I'm going to change into something else to paint in."

"Okay, but hurry, so we can get started!" Zack nodded his head.

Tali laughed and nodded. "Yes, Zack." She walked out the door way, turning down the hall way. She returned a few minutes later in a worn looking t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. Then she grabbed a paint tray, along with a paint brush, and poured some paint into it. She dipped her paint brush into it and began running it along the wall.

Zack had gotten his own paint tray and climbed the ladder, positioning the paint tray carefully. Then he started painting a higher spot on the wall.

Angeal was standing only a couple feet away from the ladder, painting that part of the wall.

"This is fun." Zack said with a grin, a few moments later.

"Yeah, it is!" Tali smiled and nodded in agreement.

He looked over at Tali, grinning as well, not realizing that his elbow had knocked something. "Maybe we can find something else to paint too!"

"How about we not?" Came the agitated voice of Angeal.

"Why not?" Zack frowned, looking over at Angeal.

Angeal had his arms crossed over his chest. There was red paint all over his head and it was dripping down his shoulders as well as down his face. The paint tray was laying upside down on the ground right behind Angeal.

Zack burst out laughing, holding onto the ladder to keep from falling off of it. "What happened, Angeal?"

There was a blank look on the Soldier First Class' face. He was not amused. "You knocked your paint tray on me."

"Sorry." Zack tried to grin, but he was still laughing a bit.

Tali giggled, trying to stifle it but failing.

"What happened here?" The voice of a bemused Genesis spoke from the doorway, chuckling.

Tali looked over at him and giggled. "Zack knocked his paint tray on Angeal's head."

Genesis was leaning against the door frame. There was an amused look on his face, and he had his arms crossed over his chest. "Angeal, red is really your color."

Angeal gave him a blank look. "Don't start."

"But he's right, Angeal." Tali giggled. "You look good in red."

Angeal shot his sister a look. "Don't make me regret letting you live here."

"Sorry." She chuckled out, her hand covering her mouth to keep the giggles from spilling out.

"I'll be back." Angeal sighed, walking by Genesis in the door way and turning down the hall.

"I didn't mean to." Zack sheepishly grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, we know you didn't, Zacky." Tali smiled, patting his shoulder before walking up to Genesis. "Are you ready?"

Genesis smirked slightly and nodded. "Of course."

Tali glanced at his red leather jacket and raised an eyebrow. "Are you really going to wear that while you paint?"

Genesis shrugged. "Why not?"

"Do you really want to chance getting paint on it?" She asked, placing one of her hands on her hip as she eyed up his jacket once more.

"I suppose not." Genesis shrugged his jacket off of his shoulders and folded it up, stepping out of the room for a moment to place it somewhere safe. Then he walked back into the room. Under his red jacket was a long sleeve, black shirt.

"That'll work." Tali nodded her head, handing Genesis a paint brush. "Did you get your cabinet handle fixed?" She giggled slightly. "Or did it fall off again?"

"Haha." Genesis retorted sarcastically, taking the paint brush from her. "I got it fixed just fine."

"I need some more paint." Zack said, grabbing his fallen paint tray and pouring more paint into it. Then he picked it up and headed for the ladder.

"Uhh, Zack." Tali called, catching his arm and stopping. "Why don't you let Genesis use the ladder?"

Zack looked at her and shrugged a bit. "Okay."

She smiled. She knew he didn't mean to, but they really didn't need him accidently knocking his paint tray on someone's head again.


End file.
